Your favourite piece of technology

"The future depemds on what you do today"  Mahatma Gandhi

As a time traveler, I have witnessed significant changes in the quality of man's life and his surroundings.

Radio-Pick Up, 1950's

During my childhood, the radio set was a magnificent piece of furniture that occupied an important place in the lounge; music, news, and even radio dramas from novels and films, recreated and transported me into a magical scenery... the sound of words and melodies created in my mind a world of my own, just as reading does. I marveled at the existence of this last century device that had not only a radio receptor, but also a turntable (earlier called pick up) used to play and listen to your own vinyl records...!

Radio programs, books, magazines and films were the main source of information and entertainment that led me to dream of gadgets for instant transportation into futuristic places together with plenty of "impossible" ideas, such as a device to watch films at home...!  Before graduating at the university, some "impossible" devices were already available and, from then on, the impossible-to-possible inventions became a trend in various areas.

Sony Walkman Family

I am lucky to live a time when technology has made great leaps into the future...or present... Many devices are now common at everyone´s home; television sets, computers, microwave ovens, smartphones, satellite TV programs, washing machines, robots, drones, and many other useful smart devices have changed our life so much and are so common, that people don't get surprised by their appearance, but surely miss them when they disappear... at least for a short time.  I still have good memories of the Walkman cassette player, diskettes, Atari computer, VHS tapes, and numerous inventions that have made our life richer, but have disappeared after a short time to leave space to new breakthroughs... 

Ingenuity and wisdom

I wonder how Jules Verne and Leonardo da Vinci would feel in our technological society today;  they would probably be excited at the possibility of travelling into outer space or under the sea; they would be developing stories and/or helping engineers to create new machines or systems for a better world; they would surely be enjoying all the advances reached and having problems to tell what their favourite pieces of technology are.  

Anyway, I actually do have a problem in mentioning just one piece of technology; smart TVs and computers are perhaps the pieces of technology that I daily use and enjoy. Smart TVs permit to watch series, films, news from all over the world, learn from different cultures, have fun ... at your own pace. And computers? They have become an essential tool at home and at work to play, learn and teach; they have allowed me to create a website for all those interested in Scientific English and blogs such as this as a teaching-learning tool;  they are essential to find information, send/receive emails, prepare material for work and an endless number of activities. 

While Jules Verne would certainly be happy with such a useful instrument for writing his works, Leonardo da Vinci would be exploring its use in ways I cannot imagine, but most probably saying "if I had a computer in my time, life would certainly be different today..." And I cannot but agree with this alleged thought. 

Now its your turn:

What your favourite piece of technology is.

When you got it

How you use it.

How often you use it.

Why you like it.

What life would be like without it.

Minimum length : 140 words.

Remember to make comments on 3 of your classmates' posts and 1 comment on the teacher's post.

Why did you choose your career?

"To be or not to be,  that is the question"  William Shakespeare

Our future ...

Big decisions usually find yourself at a crossroads; especially when you are a teenager and your future professional life depends on your wise determination today. This is when you realize that you are a young adult with a huge responsibility...your future. But did it happen that you didn´t know what to study when you finished high school?

When I was at primary school, I thought of becoming a doctor, an architect, an engineer and also … a cartoonist (an artist in drawing cartoons). Cartoon magazines—Disneyland, Condorito, Mickey mouse—were quite common for everyone…

Science, technology and more...

During high school, I developed a liking for languages, mainly English, and science, particularly through the subjects of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Computers did not exist and Internet existed only in my dreams; but, I have dear memories of my  teacher of biology who was then the Wikipedia/Internet application that opened my mind to biology, pushing me to uncover the mysteries of life; I also have wonderful memories of the chemistry lab sessions and I still have an excellent book of physics with plenty of information to fill my need of learning.

What would I study when I finished high school? Well, I must say that the possibilities were not many. Why? Simple, money. Although you could start almost any career, some of them were, and still are, quite expensive. Medicine, engineering and architecture demanded expensive materials that my family could not afford. So, as English was—and still is—important, I decided to learn English following the teaching profession.

I became a teacher of social English and had the opportunity and luck of having training in scientific English  as part of my studies at the university. This training in scientific English brought me to the Fac. of Chemical
and Pharmaceutical Sciences; has allowed me to work in various fields at different places (Economics, Nutrition, Medical Technology, Civil Engineering ...); has permitted me to be the editor of a Scientific English Newsletter; and also be visiting Professor in academic activities.

My liking of English, teaching, and science is evidenced through the design and creation of a website with Scientific English exercises.  So, as you may see, English and Science have united in the end. 

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Now, it's your turn

Tell me about:

- your dream jobs when you were a child
- other career options that you had at the moment of applying to university
- what made you decide in the end
- your experience at university until now
- the kind of job you would like to have

Word count: 130 words
REMEMBER: Leave comments on 3 of your classmates' posts and on your teacher's post as well.

Getting to know each other

Claudio Telha M. is the only son of my parents. Unfortunately, my father passed away some years ago after a sudden disease, but my mother is alive and kicking, healthy and smiling. My father came from Europe after World War II and my mother travelled from Chiloé to Santiago where they met and  got married. This information may be irrelevant to you, but to me it meant to grow up without uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, granparents and so on....

When I was a teenager, I enjoyed going to the cinema, hanging out with my few, but good friends, collecting stamps, reading books and magazines....

I studied in Liceo Valentín Letelier and then I went to the university (Universidad de Chile)  where I enjoyed wonderful moments. I became a teacher of English--both social and scientific English. There I met the girl of my life, we got married and after a couple of years we became parents of a son and a daughter. My son is an engineer, lives in Brussels, Belgium, and is engaged with a Romanian girl;  my daughter is also an engineer now happily married; my son-in-law is an engineer as well; they live in Santiago.

I started giving classes of English in the Fac. of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences quite a long time ago. For about forty years I have been giving classes of Scientific English and from time to time Social English as well.

As I said above, as a single son, I have no brothers nor sisters, but now  I have my wife's relatives,  my son-in-law's relatives, Faculty friends and a large number of students who have been under my care along all these years, who have become, in a way, part of my family as well.

Now it's your turn:

Tell me about you; include information such as birthplace, studies, family, hobbies, ...
Include image(s) or photograph(s)

Number of words: 120 (minimun)
Make comments on 3 of your classmates' posts and a comment on the teacher's post.

Create a blog

1)      You must have a google Gmail account. If you don´t have it, create a gmail account

2)      Write : blogger.com

3)      Click Create a blog

If the blog starts in Spanish go to Configuración and a) go to Idioma> English

Also

b) Configuración del usuario >Idioma>idioma en blogger> English

4)      Create an original TITLE for your Blog: in my case “Making New Friends”

5)      Create an easy-to-remember address: in my case “mynewfriendsXXXX.blogspot.com”

6)      Choose a Theme for your post: for example from “PICTURE WINDOW”

7)      Click CREATE BLOG

8)      Go to THEMES and choose ONE, you may customize… when ready Save.  Go back to blogger

9)      Go to Layout > Add a gadget

10)   > Link list:

11)   TITLE: Websites

12)   New Site name: Plataforma

13)   New Site URL: www.plataforma.uchile.cl

14)   Add link

15)   New Site Name: Exercises in Scientific English

16)   New Site URL: http://ingles.ciq.uchile.cl

17)   Save

18)   AGAIN ADD a GADGET,

Link list

TITLE:    Leading blog  

New site name: ENGLISH LAB

New Site URL: mynewfriendsXXXX.blogspot.com)

 SAVE 

19)   AGAIN ADD a GADGET, Link list :

TITLE:    My classmates  

New site name: Name of classmate

New Site URL: XXXXXXX.blogspot.com

Add link ….

Repeat as many times as necessary.